I have mentioned the role of this law in disemploying blacks. This article from the UCLA National Black Law Journal goes into this in great scholarly detail.
In one infamous racial incident in 1917, riots against Blacks broke out in East St. Louis, Illinois,39 leading to the deaths of thirty-nine Blacks.39 The major provocateur of the riots was Edward F. Mason, Secretary of the East St. Louis AFL Central Trades & Labor Union.40 He called on union members to march on city hall to demand a halt to "the importation" of Southern Blacks, and the deportation of those who had already arrived.41 "The immigration of the Southern Negro into our city," Mason stated, was a "growing menace." 42 Samuel Gompers, President of the AFL, defended the rioters on the grounds that the capitalists of East St. Louis had been "luring colored men into that city to supplant white labor. 43'
No surprisingly, the Democrats remain committed to this law.
In fairness, it should be noted that Representative Bacon (NY) and Senator Davis (PA) were both Republicans, and the Davis-Bacon Act was passed by the overwhelmingly Republican Congress of 1929-1931.
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